Month: January 2023

Snippet from the article:

Here’s a reason to get your flu shot that you probably haven’t considered: infection with H1N1 may trigger baldness in a small number of people.

A new report from Japan suggests a link between alopecia areata, a condition in which patches of hair fall out, and swine flu (H1N1). The researchers report that seven patients experienced hair loss one to four months after developing the illness.

Read the rest — H1N1 May Cause Baldness

Apparently 7 patients with H1N1 (swine flu) saw hair loss, and although this is an extremely small number of patients to make a link, it’s worth exploring further. The exact cause of alopecia areata remains unknown, so finding even casual links could possibly lead to new information and perhaps even treatments.

Snippet from the article:

A longtime swimming buff, lawyer Robert Prignoli typically hits the pool for two hours at a time, four days a week.

But a swim earlier this year in “toxic pool water” at the LA Fitness in Travis cost him more than some wrinkled skin, Prignoli alleges in a $5 million lawsuit.

“Poisoned” by a ”hazardous and toxic stew” of chemicals, Prignoli suffered “severe” hair loss, skin rashes, eye irritation, headaches and loss of taste and smell, for a time, contends his civil complaint.

Read the rest — Swimmer burned, lost hair from ‘toxic stew’ of chemicals in LA Fitness pool, lawsuit alleges

I haven’t seen any studies that show high levels of chlorine in pool water cause hair loss, though there have been a couple previous cases (here, here) where that has been the suspected culprit.

Snippet from the article:

To evaluate its association with environmental factors, the researchers at Chung-Ang examined 3,114 Koreans with androgenetic alopecia who attended dermatology clinics between March 2011 and February 2012. Then dermatologists evaluated the patients using a questionnaire to ascertain the perceptible duration of hair loss and personal factors including family history, disease and medication history, and drinking and smoking habits. They also medically classified the hair loss based on shape and density of the hair.

The research showed that the men in the “both the drinking and smoking” group tended to have more severe hair loss. In female patients, however, they found no association, probably due to the relatively small number of the women in the smoking and drinking group.

“The mechanisms by which smoking causes hair loss may be multi-factorial. Cigarette smoking may be deleterious to the microvasculature of the dermal hair papilla and to the DNA of the hair follicle itself,” noted the research.

Read the rest — Drinking, smoking aggravating hair loss

You can see the full results as published in Clinical and Experimental Dermatology — An epidemiological study of androgenic alopecia in 3114 Korean patients.

The survey included 1883 males and 1231 female patients in South Korea, and looked at eating, sleeping, alcohol, and smoking habits. It’s an interesting survey, but I’ve noticed that many (if not most) men I see at my clinic do not smoke cigarettes, yet they are balding.

If the study finds that smoking and drinking can worsen hair loss, then maybe this is a good thing. Perhaps it will get some people to stop smoking and drinking in excess, even with the previously established health risks.

Snippet from the article:

Mouse researchers conducting stress hormone experiments have stumbled onto a surprising new discovery — a potential treatment for hair loss.

Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Veterans Administration were working with genetically altered mice that typically develop head-to-tail baldness as a result of overproducing a stress hormone.

The experiment wasn’t focused on hair loss. Instead, it was designed to study a chemical compound that blocks the effects of stress on the gut. The researchers treated the bald mice for five days with the compound and then returned them to the cages, where they scampered about with several furry mice from a control group.

Read the full article at NY Times — In Surprise Finding, Bald Mice Find Their Fur Again

Doctors interviewed in the article are cautioning that not only might this mouse study not be applicable to humans, but that even if it is, it would likely only lead to treating stress-related hair loss (not genetic hair loss). The article also notes that mouse hair growth cycles are different from that of you and I. This is early research, so I’m sure there will be more news on the horizon.